Tomb Raider: God Device
by Topaz Ingenious
Summary: Two months after Yamatai, Lara took up her father's notes, searching for adventure and answers, later investigating what her father claimed could be a life-changing device that could alter history and grant incredible power. She must fight to obtain it before Trinity, but what intentions do either of them have?
1. Chapter One

_**At An Undisclosed Location**_

Two Trinity soldiers are setting up base, loading up the ammo crates and booting up the computers. They've received word that more men will be there shortly, and a couple moments later, they decide to take it easy for a little bit as they wait for more supplies. One of them sits on an ammo crate, and anther sits in a chair. As they listen to the faint howl of the cold wind outside the cabin, the soldiers start drinking some hot cocoa. "Gettin' pretty cold here." One of them complains.

"Not too bad right now. It's going to be a lot worse pretty soon though."

Trent sips more of the cocoa, almost shuddering. "Yeah."

A moment of silence ensues, and then the other soldier, William, comes back in with a lantern, placing it on a table in front of them. "We've lost a lot of men." Will comments.

Trent sighs. "Yeah. Croft, right?"

"You bet. You seen her in action?"

"Not really. But I hear a lot of people are pissed."

"You don't know the half of it." Will remarks as he sips his cocoa.

He looks at the lantern and stares at the flame burning inside. Then at Trent. "She's taken out seven gunmen by herself and blew up a tank we were building."

"Shit, man." Trent answers back, taken aback.

"Yeah." Will remarks as he sips more of his cocoa. "I was supposed to be in charge of the site there. I watched all this happen and I evacuated the premises. It was fucking crazy."

"Did control get onto you for that?"

"Yeah. They said one more screw up and they're leaving me for Croft."

"That was your first mishap, wasn't it?" Trent asks.

Will sips more of his cocoa and answers back. "Yep. Control is really damn strict."

They sit there for a while longer in the quiet as Trent finally says something "This makes me remember a cleanup op I did recently."

"What about it?" Will asks.

"Yamatai." Trent answers in a hushed voice.

Will leans in closer to Trent, checking if he heard him correctly. "Holy shit. Are you serious?"

It's almost as if everything is instantly silenced at the mention of Yamatai. "What happened?"

Trent looks around to see if anyone heard him, but he's in a cabin with only one other person. "Well, I was the only one that made it back."

A chill seeps into the room and they both feel it. "Jesus.." Will comments, shocked.

"Four of us went on the mission. There were still people at this island. Probably didn't know they could leave. I shouldn't call them people. They were monsters."

Will is frightened, but he doesn't stop Trent. "They were eating each other. Ripping off bits of their flesh. Some of them gnawing on bones. There was blood everywhere. Some of them behind some sort of bars. And those voices… God, those voices."

"Holy fuck…" Will comments. Terrified.

Trent takes a moment before he continues. "And the smell was fucking awful. But what else I found at this hellhole was evidence of people worshipping a goddess of some sort. People saying goodbye to the lives they used to live. To the people they used to know. People going crazy. And sometimes I saw their bodies nearby with a gun in their hand."

Will sighs heavily, taking it all in and finally blurts out. "Okay. Just stop for a moment."

Will roughly rubs his face, setting the hot cocoa on a table. Not having the drive to drink any more of it for a while. Trent still holds his cup in his hands, not drinking any of it either. "What's this have to do about Lara, though?" Will asks.

Trent takes a sip of his cocoa and continues. "You heard how she came back a couple months ago, right?"

"Yeah." Will replies.

"Well, she left a journal at Yamatai detailing her experience there. One of our men found it at the shore, and it was like a warning to leave this island. She explained how everything was her fault. Getting almost all her crew killed. Going through Hell. And you could see it in her journal. Her mind was all over the place. She was a wreck. And then there'd be long stretches of time where she didn't write anything. Either she forgot, or she was going so crazy she couldn't write down her thoughts."

Will interrupts him. "Okay I think that's enough right now."

"Yeah." Trent adds. "I don't wanna talk about it anymore right now either."

Then, all of a sudden, an arrow comes whizzing through the window and knocks down the lantern as fire spreads out. The two start shouting and walk outside to see a woman perched on a rooftop, looking over them. Obscured in shadow. Her hair flowing in the wind. Her bow pointed at one of their heads. The men are about to call it in, but the next thing they know, they have an arrow in each of their heads. She puts her quiver on her back, leaping down and heading to the computers they had set up earlier, looking at the information inside. She takes a picture of it, and then she blasts it with her gun. Finally, she leaves to attend to other matters, and kill any Trinity soldiers she comes across.


	2. Chapter Two

_**A Month Earlier**_

Lara is busy researching on her father's notes, frantically turning pages on books with ten different tabs open on her laptop. She has bags under her eyes. Her body sore from being hunched over for so long. The room is a cluttered, unkempt mess with books everywhere. Lara's hair isn't any better. She hasn't showered in two weeks. She's desperately trying to keep herself busy so she doesn't think about what happened only a few months ago. Desperately trying to avoid another prodding session of therapy. She's two hours late now.

Jonah comes in to check on her, but before he can get a word out, he trips a wire that triggers a mechanism, shooting arrows at his head. "Shit Lara!" Jonah shouts, panicking.

Lara shoots up to her feet, hugging Jonah tightly, apologizing as she takes out the arrows. Thankful she hasn't figured out the correct angle for the mechanism. "Are you out of your mind?!" Jonah shouts again.

"Maybe." Lara answers back.

She goes to her arrow trap and refills the arrows as Jonah looks around at the room, at Lara. Seeing how messy everything is. "You're still on this?" Jonah asks, still catching his breath.

Lara doesn't answer, but she tries to change the subject. "Did they send you to check on me?"

"Yeah. You're two hours late." Jonah replies. "I know you don't like it, but,"

"What I'm doing here is important." Lara interrupts him.

"What's that smell?" Jonah asks as his nose wrinkles in disgust.

Lara pretends not to notice as she looks out the door. "Were you followed?"

Jonah is uneasy by Lara's distressed nature. "What are you-" Jonah questions before he's interrupted again. "They're watching."

Lara then goes to the windows, making sure they're shut and locked, and draws the curtains back again. Jonah notices a cut on Lara's hand. A lot of them. "What are those cuts on your hands?"

"Papercuts." Lara answers as if it's nothing.

She goes back to her spot and gets ready to sit down as she tells Jonah, "Tell them I'm in the middle of something important."

Jonah stands his ground as he makes his own demand. "I'll do it when you get some help."

Lara takes a deep breath as she repeats herself, "You don't understand. No one does."

"If you gave people a chance, they'd understand!" Jonah's voice is a little louder this time. Not the normal calm. But not enough for a shout.

Lara picks up a book and goes to a bookmarked page, color coded corresponding to a certain discovery. "My father was searching for immortality, answers to life itself, a world without pain; they called him crazy, but-"

"I'm not talking about your father." Jonah's voice is louder this time.

"But this is something extraordinar-"

"Lara!" Jonah shouts. "I'm talking about you!"

"This could be something huge! If the world only knew-"

"Lara! Stop!"

He grabs her book and puts it on a shelf, grabs her by the hands but Lara keeps insisting it's about her father. Finally, Lara breaks and her face is riddled with guilt. Grief. Hurt. She hugs Jonah and sobs into his shirt. Jonah's voice is calmer now as he strokes her hair. "It's okay." Jonah says as he tries to calm her down.

Through her muffled sobs, Lara whimpers, "I'm sorry, Jonah."

Her sobbing is uncontrollable. "It's okay, little bird. I'm here." Jonah adds, trying to calm her down still.

Lara pulls away and looks Jonah in the eyes, asking with a broken voice, "But what about the ones I killed?"

Jonah rests a hand on Lara's cheek, answering back, "I don't know, Lara." His voice calming, but with doubt along with it. "You don't have to feel sorry for yourself."

Lara wipes away the tears and shakes her head in disapproval, "But it _was_ me."

"Don't say that." Jonah says, still trying to calm her down.

"You didn't see what I saw."

"I didn't." Jonah replies, bringing Lara back in for a hug.

Lara looks up at Jonah and asks, "I don't want to go back."

"I'll come with you."

Lara smiles a little, knowing she's not alone. But she can't help but feel she could be. Or still is. She can't help but feel safe around him. But still scared out of her mind about what could happen.


End file.
